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Menu for Baby Wrens – July 8, 2014

Gone! Cleared out! No tree frog in the shed this morning. Do hope he hasn’t packed his bags and left Cedar Hollow for good. I’ve been looking forward to hearing his unusual musical calls once he’s out of the awkward teenage stage. With all of the rain today, perhaps Jumpy will be cold. Maybe he will do another B&E, sneak back into the shed tonight, and climb up into his familiar little bed between the doors.

Mr. McD and I headed over to the K-W Woodworking and Craft Centre in Waterloo with our treasured flat slab of driftwood. I lugged it home from Bonaire some 30 years ago. How long had it been cast ashore before I claimed it? Ocean currents from as far away as Africa toss up all kinds of wood onto the tiny island’s east coast. Who knows what vessel or lodging it might once have been part of?

What a well lit and well equipped shop we stepped into with senior men working on projects, some transforming rough burls into handsome bowls. The gentleman who will turn the slab into a sign for the garden, routing the words “Cedar Hollow” into its surface, sported a full, old-fashioned beard, and loves working with wood. I wonder if he will be able to tell what kind of a tree the wood came from? Perhaps he has never seen this type of wood before.

In between pop-up showers today, we took our breaks on the lawn swing.

Let me ask you: When you had little ones (or your parents) how long was it between feeding times? Three hours? four? Remember how bleary-eyed we became? But baby comes first, and fed he must be.

It seemed that Lord and Lady Wren entered the nursery at Swiss Chalet roughly every ten minutes. Now, that’s some schedule!

The varied menu for baby wrens consists of fresh, organic delicasies from the garden and woods:

Insects

Spiders

Beetles

Caterpillars (Who’s smacking their lips?)

Earwigs

Daddy longlegs

Flies

Leafhoppers and springtails

And last, but not least, snail shells for the calcium they contain, which provide grit for digestion. They don’t have teeth, you know. That’s why you’ve never heard of birds going to the dentist!